1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2241
As the maritime colonial powers of this era, the Netherlands and Spain have obtained huge economic benefits from the East through sea routes, and a considerable part of this will be used as their military expenditures, turning them into guns and warships to destroy each other's troops.

From the standpoint of Haihan, it is of course hoped that these two maritime powers can lose both in the European battlefield and create a more relaxed external environment for their future westward expansion.However, if Haihan wants to take tough measures against the Dutch and completely cut off their economic benefits from international trade in the East, it is likely to affect the future direction of the war between the Netherlands and Spain.

In addition, while Haihan weakened and attacked these two countries, he did not completely relax his vigilance against Portugal. After all, although Portugal was still under the rule of Spain at this time, it was also a maritime power.If those two families were trampled too hard by Haihan in the East, Portugal would definitely take advantage of the situation and become bigger, which might not be a good thing for Haihan.

Therefore, the idea of ​​the executive committee is still to let the colonial powers of these Western countries in East Asia form a mutual restraint and maintain a dynamic and balanced situation.The hostile Spain received the most beatings, Portugal, which remained close to Haihan, received a lot of support and preferential treatment, and the Netherlands, which was forced to remain neutral due to the situation, had to face many restrictive measures intentionally set by Haihan.

But the Portuguese now want to break this balance and completely replace the Netherlands' trade status in East Asia, which is not in line with the Haihan Executive Committee's vision.All eggs cannot be put in one basket, and the same is true for international trade.

Of course, due to diplomatic considerations, it was impossible for Schneider to explain the executive committee's plan to Thomas, and he could only use a more tactful way to persuade the other party to give up his mind.

Thomas was stunned for a moment when he heard Schneider's words, then shook his head and said: "Mr. Schneider, I must reiterate my point of view. Our country will not think that the Netherlands is a partner in the same camp as our country because of the war between the Netherlands and Spain. No matter what happens now or in the future, it is impossible to resolve the grievances between our country and the Netherlands. You must understand that this matter cannot be simply divided into two camps. Our three countries are actually three different countries. camp, and there is no possibility of reconciliation between any two countries!"

Thomas's remarks finally described more accurately the situation of the tripartite confrontation of Portugal, the Netherlands, and Spain.This made Schneider also realize that the grievances between countries in this era may not be exactly what he learned from historical materials.The Portuguese's obsession with maritime hegemony and trade hegemony is much stronger than they think.

"You're right, maybe my opinion is indeed too subjective." Schneider readily admitted that there was a problem with his judgment, but he refused to let go of the Portuguese's request at all: "But it's about the trade share. , it is not so simple to deal with, and I think that the relationship between our country and the Dutch East India Company will remain the same for a foreseeable period of time..."

Thomas interrupted: "It seems that it is not in the interest of your country to let our country replace the trading status of the Netherlands. This is really a pity!"

Thomas said this very directly, which can be said to express Schneider's true inner thoughts.

But of course Schneider couldn't immediately admit Thomas' opinion, and replied with a smile: "Your Excellency is thinking too much. The cooperation between our country and your country has always been very pleasant, and the scale of trade has been steadily increasing year by year. I don't think there is any need for it at all." Worried about the prospect of future cooperation."

"I hope so." Thomas has actually realized that Schneider's words are perfunctory, but the other party is a senior official in charge of Haihan's economic and trade power, and he is only an envoy stationed in Haihan, so he really dare not say Too much so as not to really offend Schneider.

Whether it is Su Keyi or Thomas, what they do is their own responsibility, but the Dutch pin their hopes on Daming, trying to bypass Haihan's restrictions.The Portuguese, on the other hand, believed that they could start with Haihan and leverage the Netherlands' trade in East Asia.But none of them really realized that Haihan has a bigger and longer-term plan for controlling international trade in East Asia, regardless of whether it is the Netherlands, Portugal, or Spain, which has been pushed back to the depths of the South China Sea by Haihan, they are Colonial and trade activities in East Asia will be limited by Haihan's plan for a long time.

This is not just a matter of pure strength. Western colonial countries know nothing about the future historical trend, and they can only deal with the various situations they encounter according to the practices of this era.However, Haihan can examine this era from a higher perspective of God, and make full use of the conflicts of interest among these countries to create a favorable situation for himself.

Such an approach like Thomas' may have been a very well-planned plan in their own eyes, but they couldn't fool Hai Han, let alone convince Schneider, who is known for his shrewdness.

Schneider took the initiative to change the topic and said: "Your country has opened a trade route to North Korea last year. After this operation, the harvest should be pretty good, right?"

Thomas responded: "To be honest, the trade situation is not as good as expected. North Korea wasted too much in the war last year, and the recovery after the war is also very slow. According to the report of our businessmen, their trade situation in North Korea is not ideal. In terms of trade, it should be far less well-planned than your country. I have to say that the industries in the Datong River Basin are really eye-catching."

As one of the coalition forces that assisted North Korea in the fight against the Qing Dynasty last year, the Portuguese also received care after the war because they contributed a lot in the war and obtained the trade rights they expected.However, the aftermath of the war in North Korea has not dissipated, and the productivity and consumption of the people are far from returning to normal levels. Most of the limited labor, materials and funds are concentrated in some key industries related to the national economy and people's livelihood. business conditions are not ideal.

And Haihan is indeed prescient in this regard, and has arranged industrial cooperation projects in the Datong River Basin early on.Although these large projects require a large initial investment and a long construction period, the long-term income will grow steadily.The most important thing is that these are industries that are essential to maintain the operation of the country, so North Korean officials have also cooperated very well, giving priority to providing the materials and manpower needed for the construction of these projects.

At a time when Portuguese businessmen could hardly find craftsmen to build commercial warehouses, various projects led by Hai Han were under construction all the time. How could this not make the Portuguese businessmen who traveled thousands of miles to North Korea to pan for gold feel envious and jealous.

Now that one year has passed, various industries along the Datong River have begun to be put into production one after another, but the business conditions of Portuguese businessmen in North Korea have not improved significantly. According to the most optimistic estimate, it may take another year and a half. The local economic situation in North Korea will gradually improve.Therefore, when Thomas heard Schneider take the initiative to talk about North Korea, it was of course difficult to give a satisfactory answer.

"This is only temporary, and everything will gradually get better..." Schneider is not ignorant of the situation in North Korea. The reason why he wants to ask about this is also to try again

The attitude of the other party in order to pave the way for the next topic.

"I have a question to ask Mr. Thomas, whether your country will be interested in stationing in the Liaodong area at some point in the future, maybe we can arrange an island close to the coastline for your country, just like Macau, with low cost The price is leased to merchants in your country as a long-term residence."

"Liaodong area?" Thomas hesitated a little when he heard the place name: "Are you referring to the area currently controlled by the Haihan army, or the territory of the Qing Dynasty?"

Schneider said with a half-smile: "Of course the long-term residency is not given to your country for free. Your country must put in a little effort to fight for it."

Thomas had vaguely guessed something, but he still pretended to be puzzled and said, "I don't quite understand what you mean, can you explain it more clearly?"

Schneider said: "Perhaps at some point in the future, North Korea will invite our country to send troops to attack the Qing Dynasty in order to retaliate against the Qing Dynasty's bullying over the years. If your country is willing to send troops to help, then I think you will receive a reasonable reward after the war. "

Thomas understood now. What Schneider said was basically consistent with his guess, that is, Haihan hoped that Portugal would cooperate with sending troops to attack the Qing Dynasty in the future. In return, Portugal would obtain a certain place near the coast of Liaodong as a long-term resident after the war. .

This kind of exchange condition is actually not uncommon. Every time Portugal cooperates with Haihan to send troops, it has received similar rewards afterwards.Even after capturing the city of Manila at the beginning of last year, Haihan also specially approved a piece of seaside land with an area of ​​several hundred acres in Manila Bay to Portugal as their long-term local residence in the future.

But compared to Manila on Luzon Island, the situation in Liaodong is obviously much more complicated.Although Thomas did not go to the area in person, he spent a lot of time slowly studying the battle reports of the coalition forces in North Korea last year, and he also has a certain understanding of the situation in the Qing Dynasty.

The Spaniards have been operating in Manila for decades, but the actual scale of the armed forces is very limited, and the territory they control is mainly limited to the Manila Bay area.But Liaodong's opponent was not a native tribe with only one main city, but a northern country that could pull 10 troops south to conquer North Korea, and at the same time overwhelm the border defenses of Ming Dynasty. Its strength must not be underestimated.

Although the coalition forces did defeat the Qing army on the Korean battlefield last year, judging from the battle reports, the victory of the war was largely due to the combat strategy formulated by Haihan. Build a large defensive position in the rear. If not for this, even if the coalition forces clearly have an advantage at sea, it would still be very dangerous to block the Qing army with dozens of times their strength on land.

According to the battle report at the time, the Qing army's offensive after crossing the river was very swift and fierce, fighting all the way from the Yalu River to the Datong River, and was finally blocked by the Datong River base built by the Haihan Army.Although it did succeed in repelling the offensive of the Qing army in the end and forced it to withdraw and return to the country, offense and defense are two completely different forms of combat. If the coalition forces were mainly attacking and the Qing army was mainly defending at that time, what would happen to the war? It is not easy to draw conclusions.

Taking the initiative to send troops to attack the Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly much more risky than sending troops to North Korea last year. What's more, according to the information obtained this year, the Qing army seems to have begun to equip the army with long-range lethal weapons such as muskets and artillery. This is an extremely dangerous situation. signal of.The armed forces that Portugal can organize in East Asia have only a few people, but they can't stand too much trouble.

Thomas thought for a while, and did not immediately respond to Schneider's proposal, but asked him: "Usually, Minister Yan of your country proposes military cooperation matters. Why did you come forward this time?"

Schneider explained: "At present, the Ministry of National Defense only has such an intention, and there is no specific implementation plan, so it is not yet time for Minister Yan to come forward. I am not representing the military, but just representing myself. Of course, if you If China also has such a willingness, then I will report this situation to the Ministry of National Defense, so that when they formulate action plans, they will also take your country into consideration.”

It would certainly be a good thing for Portugal if it could obtain a long-term resident in the far north, but Thomas, as an envoy to Haihan, had to make an assessment of the risks involved.Even if he himself will not go to the front line of the battlefield, it will be bound to his future career promotion.

If the action is successful and Haihan also agrees to give Portugal a piece of land, then Thomas will become a great hero of Portugal, and maybe he will be written into history and admired by future generations.But if he failed and caused heavy casualties to the Portuguese expeditionary force, he might lose his current job because of this misjudgment.

Thomas thought over and over again, but still did not immediately give a positive answer: "Mr. Schneider, in view of the seriousness of the matter you proposed, I think more detailed information is needed to make a judgment on whether to participate. Maybe we should wait The feasibility of this issue will be discussed after the Ministry of National Defense of your country formulates a plan for the next step."

Schneider frowned slightly and said: "It seems that Mr. Thomas still has some doubts about our country's military strength."

"No, no, no! That's not the case!" Thomas quickly explained: "I believe that your country's military strength is sufficient to defeat the northern barbarians, but the problem is that we need a detailed battle plan. This is the same as doing business with your country. The content of the transaction must be reflected in the paper contract, so that the buyer and the seller can conduct the transaction with confidence, isn’t it?”

"Your description makes sense!" Schneider smiled and agreed with Thomas' explanation.

(End of this chapter)